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NCAA MEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: OMAHA

March 23, 2018

Omaha, Nebraska

Kansas - 80, Clemson - 76

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Clemson head coach Brad Brownell, student-athletes Marcquise Reed and Gabe DeVoe.

Coach, an opening statement.

COACH BROWNELL: First of all, congratulate Kansas. I thought they were really ready to play and just had a really good gear today.

I thought their tempo was great and probably caused us not to play our best game. We just seemed a little bit out of sorts, struggled on the glass early, and I think that was a big problem.

And then for whatever reason, maybe a little bit of nerves, I don't know, but we turned the ball over. And you're going to struggle when you don't rebound well and you turn it over on offense.

I thought that was a big factor in the game. And then I thought couple of the Kansas kids were very opportunistic in shooting.

I thought Malik Newman played extremely well, made tough shots. And Udoka was a huge factor. They're a completely different team when he's on the floor. He just was a difference-maker, obviously with 7 out of 9 in his rebounding, that's a major problem because all the 3-point shooting.

He's one-on-one down there and he's a major factor. Proud of our kids. I thought our kids competed. We didn't have our best game and sometimes that's not easy to keep fighting like that.

But our guys took it to the wire. And if we just made one or two more plays we might have had a chance to tie this thing. So couldn't be more proud of our guys, the way they competed today. But just been an unbelievable pleasure to coach these guys. They've been tremendous all season.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Coach, can you just talk a bit about the technical foul a little bit before halftime and just what that did to the momentum?
COACH BROWNELL: You know, we weren't playing very well, but at seven minutes to go in the first half, I think it was a two-point game, and obviously we didn't close the half well.

It might have been seven or eight when the technical happened. And I think we had just had a little small run with a basket or two.

And I guess De Sousa and Thomas got their arms together, which happens, and Eli got his elbow up and grazed him or whatever and so it's a technical. Obviously that's a huge play because you're not only giving them two points and then the ball, but Eli now has a second foul.

And it just -- it was just another example of how it felt like a mountain that we were climbing all day. And it was one of those things when nothing seems to be happening well for your team, that was just another in a long line in the first half.

Q. Gabe, looking at the box score, looks like you left it all out on the court today. Did you leave it all out there and how do you feel?
GABE DEVOE: Yeah, I thought I did. I just tried in any way possible to give my team a chance to win at the end. Really tried to rally the guys in the first half when we got down, just continued to fight. Made some big stops down the stretch, gave us a chance but we just weren't able to get over the hump.

Q. Brad, when you said they're a whole different team when he's out there, what are maybe some details that make that so?
COACH BROWNELL: Well, obviously he can score one-on-one. His size is so big that he's catching the ball five feet from the rim. And because they have four guys making shots, like Vick is the guy who you would think maybe we can help a little bit off Vick because he's like their worst 3-point shooter he has 50-some-odd on the season and goes 3-for-6 tonight.

Most teams have somebody that you can kind of scratch off. So one of the reasons they're so hard to guard is they've got a center that scores if he catches it deep, and he's bigger than everybody on the floor so he does get position. And then you've got guards that can all make shots and drive by you and they play with great spacing.

So it's just -- you know, it's good coaching, it's good players, and if they don't have a center like that, then you don't care as much if they throw it in there and a guy scores a little bit but Udoka scored enough to be a problem.

And even De Sousa played well. But Udoka hit a huge left-hand hook in the second half late and that's a tough shot. And he made that shot right when we kind of had some momentum and that was a big play. And obviously he had others.

Q. Coach, this is the first time in 21 years you got to this point. And you've said a few things about it, about you how do you think everybody handled it and what do you think it means for you?
COACH BROWNELL: I think it means a lot. Obviously the exposure we've gotten in the last couple of weeks have been terrific. Confidence in our players to know that we can get to this point and play with these kinds of teams. We do it on a regular basis in our league, but to go out to San Diego and play the way we played, we played tremendous out there. And so I think those are big things.

I don't know if -- I'd like not to think that the lights didn't bother us either. We play in a league where we play this kind of competition on a regular basis, but by the way we played in the first half, we had some careless turnovers and we had some things that looked like we were a little star struck a couple times.

I think we had a hard time settling in. Even when it was 25-23 -- I think that was the score -- with seven minutes to go in the first half, I really didn't feel like we were playing well.

And again some of that is because of Kansas. But we just weren't in a comfortable spot like we've been and we just had a hard time kind of getting comfortable most of the day. And I don't know if that was because of the nature of the game or just playing Kansas. But certainly it was a great run here and I couldn't be prouder of these guys.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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